My name is Paula Bustos and I am a product and interior designer from Mexico. I've always been interested in reconnection with nature, we are products of our natural environment yet we are so distant from it. In times of need I usually find an answer in our natural systems. Nature has this way of regenerating that is very impressive to me. There is so much we can learn from it if we understand it better and find a way to create a symbiotic relationship in which we can coexist in a beneficial way. It's a matter of changing perspectives, observing carefully and understanding.

I believe we need to start by learning how to respect ourselves and others so we can start respecting nature as well. By creating empathy we can reach a level of awareness in which we feel responsible of our actions and the impact they may have on others. We can evolve into respecting each other and making this a safer space to cohabitate. There is an emergent need to reconnect with ourselves, each other and other species.

Coming from Mexico I've always had a constant awareness of my safety. Growing up I realized I didn't want to live constrained and with so many boundaries stablished by this lack of security. Fear was inside a lot of people and immersed in our society which would eventually lead to distrust from others causing social distancing. This lack of community made us more cautious and wary of others because we didn't want to relate to any stranger or have personal interactions. As a society we are acting for own individual benefit and not as a community. We are social beings which are meant to rely on one another, yet we distrust others and sometimes have harmful actions towards them. We need to start with education and values, with the cultural aspect that is intertwined with this violence towards others (specially women), distrust, self improvement over others development, and many other topics.

Safety should be granted to any species at birth, not something we need to fight for every single day. We as humans can help restore this systems and repair some of the damage done to our ecosystems through positive human impact, technologies, interspecies collaboration, understanding nature to reconnect with it and improving human safety. Starting from analyzing what needs to be changed, understanding systems and concepts we are not familiar with, taking in new perspectives, creating discussion and most importantly changing habits.